His mother, Lynnette Perkes, said he was just like any other child who had better things to do than practice for band. “Like kids everywhere, he didn't want to practice, but he discovered if he did practice, the little girls would gather round and say, ‘Oh, Tal, you play so good' — and he was section leader, so it was 20 girls and Tal,” she said. “Then he started winning competitions; we couldn't stop him then.”

Perkes died Oct. 20 from pneumonia at 51.

He knew by the time he graduated from high school that he wanted to pursue music, but his parents encouraged him to try college, so he attended California State University in Fullerton for a year. “We were always biting our fingernails ... we were really worried about his trying to make a living as a classical musician,” Lynnette Perkes said. “When he didn't change his mind, we gave up.”

Most Popular

During his career, he played in Mexico, Europe, Japan, Korea and Peru as well as the U.S. He was acting principal flutist with the City Orchestra of Barcelona in Spain and principal flutist with the Santa Fe Opera, the San Antonio Symphony and the Olmos Chamber Ensemble, said his wife, Martha Fabrique.

He also loved teaching, she said. He taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and at Trinity University for a time, and he gave private lessons. He also participated in a program at St. Philip's College that provided lessons to students who couldn't otherwise afford them. “He really enjoyed that teaching,” Fabrique said, adding that he loved the kids' motivation to study and learn about music.

Recently, Tallon Perkes had studied architecture, earning a master's degree last year. “I think that he was looking for an alternative career,” friend Matthew Dunne said. “Tal had a great interest in architecture as an art form; he was a visual artist (and was) curious, scientifically and technically.”

“He had a real kind of passion for all of it,” he added. “Not just the art side or the tech side, all these things together.”